Phone Systems Buyer's Guide

Features of office telephone systems

By Sylvia Rosen

Office telephone systems can be equipped with literally hundreds of features for switching calls and directing traffic. Dealers estimate, however, that most companies use only 10 percent of their available telephone features. Instead of comparing features on a one-to-one basis, examine how you use your phone system, then search for and evaluate only those options that will improve your office workflow.

Some of the most popular features come standard in many office telephone systems.

• Auto-attendant is a recorded message that answers your phones and instructs callers how to reach the person or department they are looking for. If you have a high volume of calls, this may be important, or you may value having a live person answer every call.
• Conferencing features can vary widely. Consider how often your staff needs to make conference calls, and how many different people need to call in. If the conferencing features you need aren't readily available, there are other options for conducting teleconferences that you can purchase separately.
• Music-on-hold is fairly self-explanatory - in most systems you simply plug in a source of music. Find out more in our Messaging On Hold Buyer's Guide.
• Dial by name, dial by extension, and dial from directory services help callers find the people they need to speak with.

You'll also be able to choose different features for your phone sets. Display phones have a small screen that shows information such as the name and extension of an internal caller, the duration of call, and in some cases, caller ID. Speaker phones, a familiar fixture in many conference rooms, are now standard on most new hand sets. Speaker phones can be half-duplex, which means that only one person on the call can be heard at a time, or full-duplex, which lets both parties talk simultaneously, like a regular phone. Some phones also have a 'listen only' mode for speaker phone, which is useful for monitoring a conference call or while on hold.

With more feature-rich office telephone systems, voicemail may be included as part of the package. However, it's a fairly expensive option if not included. If you already have a voicemail system, talk to your vendor about its compatibility with the system you are considering.

Although having the right features is important, even more critical is making sure they are easy to access. Because most employees devote very little time to learning how to use a phone system, you should make sure that using the most common functions is extremely simple and intuitive.

Although having the right features is important, even more critical is making sure they are easy to access. Because most employees devote very little time to learning how to use a phone system, you should make sure that using the most common functions is extremely simple and intuitive.